I last talked about prevenient grace relative to a discussion of the first chapter of Ephesians and the theories of predestination. So, the question occurred to me–when did I first feel God’s presence around me calling me to him? I think I’ve had that awareness ever since I could think. Even when I sin, I have had an awareness of God–and the disapproval of what I’m doing or thinking.
I asked this question in a small group and received an answer that for many awareness of the nearness of God didn’t happen until well into adulthood. Although I’ve had some big experiences of God, I never had that “salvation experience” that evangelists try to get you to experience. Many, on the other hand, seem to have no awareness of God. They just sort of travel blindly through life until one day they get smacked. Then they see the God that’s been calling them since before they were born.
I’ve been thinking about this experience of the awareness of God calling for several weeks. Sometimes you just don’t get it consciously. I have a friend in Brazil with whose husband I bet a bottle of wine on the outcome of a soccer match between the US and Brazil. We lost. Then I discovered it’s hard to send a bottle of wine internationally. I got busy and quit searching. Then I got the urge (hmm) to search again, and I found a company that sends gift baskets to just about any country. I’m a trusting soul (sort of), and ordered a basket with the bottle of red wine over the Internet, gave them my credit card number (a big act of faith) and hoped. Then I received a message yesterday from my friend. The basket arrived just as she was at a very low point in the Christmas season. It made her day. What a blessing.
Think that was God talking to me? Wonder what He’s saying now that I haven’t yet responded to? What about you?
Tags: Christianity, spirit
Faith Venture 
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